For everyone involved in the Rutland Osprey Project, late March is just about the most exciting time of the year. When will the first Osprey return from Africa, and who will it be? News that 11(98) is back at his nest in North Wales has really wetted everyone’s appetite. How long will we have to wait? Last year 03(97) was the first bird back, on 19th March, so we’re hopeful that the first bird will return some time over the next few days.

From a personal point of view our project trip to West Africa has really put Osprey migration into context. I find it remarkable to think that the birds will have flown over the vast wilds of the Sahara, the Atlas Mountains and perhaps even the Bay of Biscay, en route to their nest site in Rutland. This point was emphasised last week when I received an e-mail from Rolf Wahl saying that the French colour-ringed Osprey we saw in West Africa was back in Orleans Forest, just a matter of weeks after we had seen it catch a fish in the River Allahein on the border of Gambia and Senegal. Check out Rolf’s website and John Wright’s blog for more.

Competition

As you have probably noticed, the Manton Bay webcam is now online. The person who sends us the first screen grab from the camera showing an Osprey will receive two free Osprey cruise tickets. So be sure to check it at regular intervals over the coming days! By way of a hint, 5R returned on 27th March last year…

We really hope you like the new website. As last year we will be keeping a diary of the summer at Site B and Manton Bay. There will also be regular blogs from members of the project team as well as contributions from project volunteers. Check out the volunteers’ blog for Lynda Berry’s first diary entry of the summer. There are still various pages to be added to the website over the next few weeks, so please bear with us while we get them all online. One other important thing to point our is that you can now reserve places on all of our events online – check out the events page for more. Once you have reserved your tickets we will be in contact with further details.

Finally, a very big thank you to Moira and Dave from Morton Carnie Studio who have done a fantastic job with the website revamp. I can thoroughly recommend them – so be sure to check them out.